Hockey prospects choose Ovechkin over Crosby

(By Greg Fiume - Getty)

I started listening to this interview with Ovechkin book authors Damien Cox and Gare Joyce just to see if they said anything controversial about Ted Leonsis or Washington or Nate Ewell. But the most interesting part of the conversation turned out to be kind words, if you ask me. Here's the key part:

Cox: The Washington Capitals are completely paranoid and have convinced themselves that all of Canada is against them, that not just the hockey fans but the hockey media and everybody wants to see them fail. And of course, most reasonable people in Canada would either go 'I've never watched the Washington Capitals play,' or 'I love watching the Washington Capitals play, they're a great team to watch, and Ovechkin's an exciting person.' But for whatever reason, Ted Leonsis has really led the way on this, that he wants to foster this everybody in Canada is against us [notion]. I mean, think about it: the most powerful city in the world is worried about little old Canada. At least somebody's worried about us.

Joyce: It's funny, though. I look through the questionnaires filled out by the top prospects in last year's draft, and in one of the goofier questions, you're asked to name your favorite NHL player. Ovechkins outnumbered Crosbys, 2-1. Taylor hall's favorite player? Alexander Ovechkin. It goes right down the line like that. I guess he has far more support and interest the deeper you get into the hockey community, which sort of explains why he wins the Ted Lindsay Award [voted on by the players] and not the Hart. The players appreciate him. People who play appreciate him more than the public does, more than the media does

Cox, arch-enemy of Washingtonians everywhere, also described Ovechkin as "a team-oriented guy...trying to play a team game," and talked at length about how much Bruce Boudreau and his teammates "love the guy."

They also discussed the book's name -- "A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Hockeys Most Dangerous Player" -- which has become one of the knocks against it here among Ovechkin supporters.

"I think the idea was the double meaning," Cox said. "With the puck on his stick, there is nobody more dangerous. And then as we saw [with] Jamie Heward, this was a guy who had his career ended by Alex Ovechkin on a hit, and Brian Campbell, so the double meaning I think really works with this guy."

"It is both senses of the word dangerous that are in play," Joyce agreed. "I guess down in Washington they're only taking it to mean he's threatening bodily harm to everybody, but he is the most dangerous scorer. And in some ways, he's the scariest force on the ice, the player who is most likely to knock you out of a career (like Jamie Heward) or knock you out for months at a time, like Brian Campbell."

I remember Jamie Heward saying the exact opposite. That he put himself in bad position, and that Ovechkin was trying to avoid him. I remember Heward saying that he held no blame on Ovechkin on that 5th (or was it 6th?) concussion he got that ended his career. I also remember Heward not being so magnanimous involving other injuries he received (see Mike Modano). I guess Cox knows more about what happened between Heward and Ovechkin than anyone actually involved, or even in the building that night.

"The Washington Capitals are completely paranoid and have convinced themselves that all of Canada is against them"

Gross overstatement, but to the extent that the Caps/fanbase is paranoid about a bias...i mean, you really don't know where that's coming from Cox? You think it has anything to do with a 300 page book depicting Ovechkin as the prima donna jerk against the squeaky clean perfect superstar Crosby?

FWIW Jamie Heward's version of events is spelled out completely in the book, the product of an hour-long interview that I did with him. Jamie I know pretty well from his time in the Leafs' organiztion. Jamie said that there are fifty guys in the NHL who could have hit him the way AO did and he skates away from the contact. There are players as big or bigger, as strong or stronger than AO but none of them skates as well as 8. The ability to hit someone in such a devastating fashion and not intending bodily harm is the very definition of dangerous

Also count me in as dubious of Cox's and Joyce's objectivity as based upon the excerpts I've read and the really silly negative tweets by Cox in which he manages to dismiss all Caps' fans.

I would love to read a fair and objective portrayal of Ovi. So far this book seems rather negative. Plus there are too many factually erroneous and misleading statements made by the authors recently, including Joyce's suggestion that Campbell was out for months and Cox's inclusion of Ovi's contract in with other long-termed but front-loaded ones as published in his recent article on these contracts and in his tweet war.

If you were trying to link the photo above to the discussion below, you used the wrong Campbell. If you were trying to illustrate that hockey players get pushed into the boards head-first almost every game but if you're Alex Ovechkin and are considered reckless you'll get suspended for it, well, then, bravo.

Well, since Gare has chimed in, I might as well. Look, people can buy the book or not, but don't buy the disinformation out there. It's hardly about wonderful Sid and terrible Ovie. In fact, it describes in detail how Ovechkin outdid Crosby when they were both rookies, and about how Ovechkin outplayed Crosby in their spectacular Super Bowl Sunday clash last winter. They are inextricably linked as sporting figures, each raising the bar higher for the other. We compare it to Magic/Bird. How can that possibly be insulting to Ovechkin? People who haven't actually read the book are trying to suggest its more about Crosby than Ovechkin. That's absurd. It's all about Ovechkin, the Caps and last season, with a few parts that include Crosby. One last point. If the Canadian media is so against the Caps, and if I'm out to destroy Ovechkin's reputation, why is it that he received my first place vote for the Hart Trophy last season, and not Crosby?

For all the talk about it (and I'll get around to reading it eventually), I'd guess it's a book with a controversial title that doesn't really go one way or the other. The "Canadian bias" isn't as deep as it's made out to be, but neither is the paranoia from Caps fans. As a longtime Caps fan, I can tell you that any perceived bais predates Ovechkin and crosby even being in the league.

What D-Cox and Gary Joyce don't understand is that Caps fans are EXACTLY like Leonsis. We think the league is a conspiracy for Crosby. We cry anytime we perceive any criticism. We are basically big babies like our owner.

I, for one, enjoy that someone in the media is calling out Ted. He's not everything he's cracked out to be.

Gary--Damien..My advice to you is don't involve yourself in pissing contests with TED or his followers.

There are some reasonable Caps fans that can read the book with an open mind and not this preempted belief that you are out to get us.

Best of Luck on book sales..Do not let the insecurities of our owner and some of our fans affect your feelings toward Ovechkin or this organization in the future.

You guys are doing your job. I am sure the book gives a fair potrayal of Ovechkin. I can't say you have done the whole media blitz thing well however. Damien I think your back and forth with Ted was very childish on both of your ends. Sometimes not saying anything is the better move.

Also you will never convince a lot of Caps fans. There are about 50% of Caps fans that are sane and the other 50% are blind homers. If Sid is even mentioned in a brief part of the story they will think you are favoring him over Ovie. And the whole back and forth with Ted turns those fans off instantly. It is their belief that Ted can do no wrong. Ted just like you, and just like all of us in fact makes mistakes.

And on that note, good luck to you guys with the book. I look forward to reading it, I do hope it is a fair and balanced look at Ovi.

As long as he is here, I'd like to know how Damien Cox came to this conclusion (below) considering Ovechkin's contract is structured nothing like LeCavalier's:

But when they wanted to give Alexander Ovechkin a 13-year, $124 million contract, one they knew Bettman wouldn't approve of, they did it anyway. That encouraged others, like the bizarre Tampa twosome of Len Barrie and Oren Koules, to engineer a deal with Vinny Lecavalier that started with a $10 million salary and wound down to $1 million.

I think whatever delusions some Caps fans are being accused of that the entire country of Canada is against the Washington, DC-based team should only look to their beloved Don Cherry. While he can't honestly be seen as a fair representative of Canada, the fact that your hockey environment would spawn something of that nature behooves me to think otherwise. Canada is a beautiful place with some pretty amazing people but yeah, when it comes to hockey, it's hard for me to believe that a majority of you go home if your team loses and say "It's just a game." Good luck with the book though. I won't be reading it though. I'd rather hear about Ovi's life story when he's ready to tell it.

For those talking about Ovechkins contract you don't get the point. He's not comparing the structure of them. He is saying that Bettman HATES the long term contracts period. Even if they are equally distributed. That is why in the next CBA you are going to see a cap on the number of years for contracts probably be 5-7 years.

"In my opinion, he's probably one of the cleanest players in the NHL as far as being honest," Heward said. "He'll play hard on you, but now that I know it was him, I know it wasn't intentional. I played with him for two years. We were pretty tight when I played there. I totally agree and think it was an accident."

I would urge Damien not to lump Caps fans in with Leonsis. He's a great owner and extremely accessible but you won't find a Caps fan who doesn't think he's extremely thin skinned. As someone who watches alot of the Canadian network's broadcasts as well as listens to the Fan I can agree that the treatment Alex gets from most of the Canadian media is fair sometimes even fawning.

Okay, so a couple of responses (thanks to Dan for operating this forum. I think it's a lot better way to exchange ideas with Washington hockey fans than Twitter). About the contract thing: the issue was that the league did not want teams signing contracts with double-digit years. In the book, Caps president Dick Patrick is quoted on this point. I never said the contract was one of those "back-sliding" deals. Ted Leonsis jumped on the column and used it as a pretext to slag the book. The point was that when other owners looked at Leonsis, a big Bettman backer, and saw him defying the commish, they felt free to be even more aggressive with contracts.
Also, I really don't lump Caps fans in with the owner, and if some of the things I've said have made it seem that way, it's my fault. I think Washington has very passionate hockey fans, and their numbers are growing because they have a very exciting hockey team. They're obviously loyal and love Ted, and that's cool by me. But I've never slagged Wash fans; I've had my differences with Ted, and certainly with some of the local bloggers.

In case anyone is interested, there is a review of the book available now. I’ve also copied and pasted most of it below.

http://www.hockeybookreviews.com/2010/06/ovechkin-project.html

Two of the bigger names in hockey journalism (Damien Cox and Gare Joyce) combine forces to bring us the new book The Ovechkin Project: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Hockeys Most Dangerous Player.

The book, however, disappoints. It is written with a negative theme, as if the authors' mandated their vision right from the outset. I heard one of the authors (Joyce) try to defend their approach as painting him as tragic figure. I don't buy it. The book reads as if the authors go out of their way create an image of a spoiled prima donna more interested in the spotlight than winning.

The book is split between two storylines. The first is of Ovechkin's youth in Moscow, where they treat his mother as a controlling freak, detached from emotion and pushing him too hard. On the other hand they treat his father as a happy-go-lucky dolt. They should have spent more telling us about the effect his brother's death had on him. While they touch on the subject, it should have been given much more time to what undoubtedly was a life changing event. They end the book on this note, but it should have been the book's theme if they were truly attempting to paint him as a tragic figure.

The authors then jump ahead to his established life in America as the star player and face of hockey. They gloss over his early career highlights and dominance that got him there, and jump right into comparing him endlessly to Sidney Crosby. Which is fine, because we all do it anyways. But they use it to no end to point out all of Ovechkin's shortcomings in order to make him appear to be a flawed and lesser hockey star.

I think what disturbs me the most is how different of a view the authors give us from the public image we all have of Alexander Ovechkin. We all know him as the fun loving, electrifying superstar hockey player who everyone loves. The authors go out so far out of their way to paint a different picture that we do not recognize the Ovechkin they write about at all. Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said so much himself, and he knows the real behind-the-scenes Ovechkin better than most.

It is one thing to offer a critical view of Ovechkin. But this book immediately wreaks of a biased mandate to contrast him from his public persona. The authors go at long lengths to do so.

Why? Damien Cox has a long history of going out of his way to be controversial. So his influence here does not surprise. He does himself no favors in his much publicized defense of the book, coming across as an insecure fool. Gare Joyce has a much cleaner record and has always been known as a top writer. It is noteworthy though that he previously wrote a glowing biography of Sidney Crosby.

I expected more objectivity and professionalism. But controversy is good for business, I guess. Even if it come

For those talking about Ovechkins contract you don't get the point. He's not comparing the structure of them. He is saying that Bettman HATES the long term contracts period. Even if they are equally distributed.
Posted by: ThePat | September 30, 2010 3:26 PM
----------------

Really? Because of the 7 players other than Kovalchuk named in that article the contract details look something like this:

Zetterberg: 7.4 down to 1.0;
LeCavalier: 10.0 down to 1.0;
Franzen: 5.5 down to 1.0;
Pronger: 6.25 down to 525k;
Savard: 7.0 down to 525k;
Hossa: 7.9 down to 750k;
Ovechkin: 9.0 down to, umm 10.0.

As far as the length of Ovechkin's contract being an issue... His contract would appear to be unaffected by the new rules, which Cox references in his article, that were put into place for contracts longer than 5 years.

So why was it included in the article if not to flick boogers in the general direction of the Caps?

**I apologize if the above numbers aren't _exact_ was trying to pull the contract info from multiple sources. There really is no comparison though.

@Cox--Your quote: "The point was that when other owners looked at Leonsis, a big Bettman backer, and saw him defying the commish, they felt free to be even more aggressive with contracts."

You did not make this point very clear in your article. However, I still have a problem with your logic, that Ovi's 2008 long-termed contract led to the other more egregious, front-loading variations.

Was not DiPietro's 15 year contract signed in 2006 the first? Shouldn't that contract be the one that inspired other owners and started the downward slide as you see it? Moreover, even if Leonsis is a Bettman supporter are you suggesting that he has to be in complete lockstep with him? Owners do have to act in the best interests of their franchises as well.

Whatever your issues with Leonsis are, however, you really can't lay the blame for front-loaded contracts solely at his feet.

It's a fact of life: establish a set of contractual rules and regulations, and then lawyers, agents, and other interested parties will find a way around them.

'And isn't Gare's comment telling: "The players appreciate him. People who play appreciate him more than the public does, more than the media does."

Yep you're the media, and it's pretty obvious that you wrote this book without taking the time to "know" Ovi. Thanks for pointing that out to us'

Actually, AO and I go back to April 2002, when, I hazard a guess, you had never heard of him and I was at the u-18s in Slovakia where he was on the Russian team as an underager. I've had a long-standing working relationship with his then-agent and the agent's late operative who was charged with handling the teenage client. I was there when Ao played in the u-20s tournaments. Damien was there at the Olympics and all the rest. We chased down former coaches and those who knew him growing up--and those who can talk about the experience of young players in post-Soviet Russia.

I wouldn't bother writing a "debunking Ovechkin" book ... that just doesn't make sense. There are other things to do. Truly. AO's the single most powerful and most accomplished forward in the game in this era and he's learning what it takes to win. If anything (and I suggested this in my chat with Dan) this book is about AO's learning curve and it's a snapshot of a franchise that, not long after being a drag on the league, is arguably one of the most important. As good as AO is, he's not a finished player. As good as the Caps are, they're in a position to be a season-in, season-out force. As far as Canadian jingoism goes, I've been accused of exactly the opposite by Canadians (Cherry among others and even Damien once or twice). That is, I've taken the side of Russian and Eastern European players when other members of the media and the public pilloried them. I always had great relationships with Larionov and Fedorov and other somewhat lesser lights (Val Bure, Sergei Samsonov, Kovalev, etc). I reject wholly the notion of having any animus towards "foreign" players--I'm disappointed though not so surprised by posters here who accuse me of that and then slam Canadians. I'll just put it down to cognitive dissonance.

Pretty sure I didn't say anything about you being Canadian, so I don't know where that comment came from.

I do think your holier than thou attitude of "I go back to April 2002, when, I hazard a guess, you had never heard of him..." as well as your comment about how you're gonna be around longer than Ted in another interview speaks volumes about the high opinion you have about yourself.

Funny how both you and Cox seem to think it's only Caps fans who are having trouble with what they read about this book. No comments on Pelletier's thoughts on your book? He's not a Caps fan, and yet he seems to have trouble with your book as well.

I don't need a rah, rah Ovi book. But honestly, even if I hadn't of read the excerpts or seen the table of contents or read Pelletier's review, I wouldn't buy it just on Cox's childish tweets alone.

As a Caps fan almost all the way back to Season 1, I can tell you that for a lot of the oldtimers it's disorienting to have anyone outside 10K or so loyalists paying any attention to the team. Before Ted bought them, the "not paying attention" group even included the owner. Perhaps that feeds into some of the perceived "paranoia" now that outsiders are talking about them. That and some of the cheap media shots AO took over the Campbell hit and the goal celebration in Tampa the season before. Buy hey, "paranoia" worked OK for the Hoyas for a few years and fuels half the football programs in the country, so if this be madness, make the most of it.

Joyce said "I've had a long-standing working relationship with his then-agent and the agent's late operative who was charged with handling the teenage client."

So is this relationship the reason why you criticized Ovie in the book for no longer using an agent when he signed the contract extension? It seemed like you were accusing Ovie of being unloyal because he ended a business relationship that wasn't working for him. That's how things work in business. His agent didn't own him and Ovie didn't owe him the cut of the contract extension. Ovie had every right to use his family in the negotiations and use IMG for marketing instead of keeping the agent.

To Mr. Cox and Mr. Joyce, it was suggested that you truly feel that your "biography" was fair and unbiased. If that's factual, I feel very sorry for you both. From the excerpts I've read, your bias is clear. People have said the book has a negative tone, but I will go a step further and say that it is an opinionated negativity, not a factual one. The assumptions made about the feelings of others, particularly Ovechkin whom you admit you were not granted access to, is staggering. I would also recommend that you watch the YouTube video of "The Goal" that you refer to. It clearly shows AO smiling with a full set of teeth. Fact checking seems to be as high on your list as objectivity.

@ThePat, please don't make any assumptions about people's intentions (or take what anyone says here as fact). Simply read the excerpts and decide for yourself here:

I know what you have said about the book you didn't want to write, and I know what you have said about the book you did write, what I don't understand is why you wrote the book at all. I imagine that once the Capitals limited access to Ovie you had to re-examine how you were going to write the book. Certainly you had to have thought that you couldn't write the book you wanted when you first conceived of the idea. Could it be then that, knowing you wouldn't be able to actually provide personal insight from the player himself, you went ahead and wrote a book to capitalize on Ovie while his star was still shinning? As a Capitals fan, and one who credits Ovechkin for revitalizing NHL hockey in the area, why would I be a party to this?

I've seen Ovechkin play since he was rookie. I'm fairly certain he has flaws as a young man dealing with celebrity. I know he has made some mistakes on the ice (most notably Campbell). The things I don't know about him can only be learned from Ovechkin, not third party interpretations. So what interest am I supposed to have in your book on that basis?

As for Ted Leonsis, flawed though he may be, he has been a huge influence in making the Capitals a success both in D.C. and around the NHL. Whatever other complaint or criticism you have of him you must acknowledge this, and in doing so you have to be aware of the fact that nothing else matters. He is the owner of a team and has made it successful financially. By what other criteria do you assess him?

On the other hand, you, as journalists have to be graded on your objectivity and the relevancy of your work. You wrote a book that has been criticized by at least one reviewer as having a particular bias, and you wrote it without the input of your subject. I don't know nor do I care if that bias is based on Canadian centrism, or if it's just an editorial slant designed to make the book more compelling. What is significant and important to me is that you could not have written a book I'm interested in.

As a 30-year Caps fan that lives in Canada I can say that there is alot of jealousy directed at the Caps and somewhat the Penguins too...especially in Western Canada. The Leafs and Habs have taken a backburner to the hype about Caps, Pens, OV, and Sid. Out west where they have a really good team that used to play in the shadow of Montreal/Toronto universe (I'm talking Vancouver) they wonder why they don't get attention yet.

I grew up a Caps hockey fan and for me I was laughed at until the day OV arrived - now I think the Caps get respect but until its proved that its not all OV - there are 19 other guys on a team - there will be those that are jealous.

Remember they hate commissioner Bettman in Canada - not sure why he actually has saved NHL hockey up here from sure demise in certain markets - and they are starved for a Stanley Cup winner in Canada (anywhere). Sid and OV being on good US based teams is a road block to that barring a miracle - or the Canucks.

As for Leonsis - he is misrepresented by the Canadian media because they are taken aback by his media saavy and his openness to fans. If the internet blogosphere becomes the main source of hockey media many of them in Canada will need to get new jobs.

Caps fans take it as negative when you say thing like he's ended multiple careers and that's it the case. Campbell was out a month for his hit, so there's one false representAtion. Look at goons like Matt Cooke and you'll have a hard time counting all the people he's hurt. Cox is clearly backpedaling and truly to make uncle Ted look paranoid. Not all Canadian news hates the caps but it is clear who has an agenda against ovie and cox is one of them. saying otherwise is foolish when your selling a book to the people who hAte him

Cox was probably taken aback that he did not get access to OV and made the book worse for it. But Cox had already decided to write the book with or without the access to the main person it was about. So how does that make him look? Is there any way we could have gotten him not to write?

Can anyone in the media just pick up a pen and paper and write an unauthorized biography as they please just because of who they are?

If Cox were not already known for being so slanted in everything he writes (Historically) he may have gotten to do an authorized biography and it would have sold more copies than this one will....I know because most of what I read are biographies....but I know there always is an agenda in each one.

I love these two low life authors who do a hatchet job book on Ovie then come on this blog to try to soft pedal the hatchet so that Caps fans will buy the book. But not as much as I love Steinberg's obsequious thank you to them for coming down from the mountain to read his blog. Grow a pair, Steinberg......

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